Bee Piggy

So far in this year’s Burger Wellington I’ve not managed to get a pork burger – my previous attempt to visit The Fork & Brewer was thwarted when they were fully booked. It was a lovely sunny day today, so I decided to take a stroll down Courtenay Place to The Jimmy at lunchtime. The Jimmy is the café at St James Theatre, Wellington’s main theatre; whilst I’ve drunk coffee, beer and wine there, I’ve never eaten, so this was a new experience for me.

Their entry is called Bee Piggy, and is described thusly:

Confit of pork neck with Zany Zeus smoked brinza croquette with pear relish and celeriac slaw on an Arobake honey ciabatta bun, with shoestring fries.

And it looks like this:

Does it live up to its description? Well, yes and no. All the elements were there, but some in name only. The celeriac "slaw" seemed to be just grated celeriac, and I surmised it had been grated some time ago, as any flavour had long since evaporated. The smoked brinza croquette, too, was curiously lacking in smokiness. The pear chutney dominated the whole thing, overpowering the pork patty. This, when tasted by itself, was good, but it lost the battle against the chutney. Also, the patty was very small, making the bread-to-meat ratio too high, and I left half of the bun. Any honey flavour in the bun was also beaten by the chutney. The construction, in particular the croquette, was quite unstable, and wasn't going to fit the "eat with your hands" criterion. Shoestring fries were as expected, and the Garage Project beer match was Pils'nThrills - a safe choice. Overall I scored this a 7/10, but thought that with a  bit of work (cut down on the chutney, increase the size of the patty, use fresher celeriac) this could easily have reached a 9. Ah well. Today I have satisfied my pork craving. Tomorrow, who knows?